Electric Field Diagnostics in the Jovian System : Brief Scientific Case and Instrumentation Overview

• The Jovian plasma environment exhibits a variety of plasma flow interactions with magnetised as well as unmagnetised bodies, making it a good venue for furthering our understanding of solar wind - magnetosphere / ionosphere interactions. On an overall scale the solar wind interacts with the Jovian magnetosphere, much like at Earth but with vastly different temporal and spatial scales. Inside the Jovian magnetosphere the co-rotating plasma interacts with the inner moons. The latter interaction is slower and more stable than the corresponding interaction between the solar wind and the planets, and can thus provide additional information on the principles of the interaction mechanisms. Because of the wealth of expected low-frequency waves, as well as the predicted quasi-static electric fields and plasma drifts in the interaction regions between different parts of the Jovian system, a most valuable component in future payloads would be a double-probe electric field instrument. Recent developments in low-mass instrumentation facilitate electric field measurements on spinning planetary spacecraft, which we here exemplify.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Fusion, plasma och rymdfysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics (hsv//eng)

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